Team Future  The Halloween Adventure
by artificus
Summary: It's Halloween in Todayland! And some really strange things are going on... See how Wilbur, Vi, Flame and Emely master their very first mission!  Not part of TF-Metamorphosis


**Author's Note:**

**This is not part of 'Team Future – Metamorphosis'! It is my own version about how TF could possibly continue and it is already 2 years old. Due to virus-issues on my laptop, there was no spell check for english language, and no beta-reading too. So, if you'll find mistakes or anything confusing, please, please, please let me know! Thank you and have fun!**

**In case you did or did not read 'Team Future' I added notes when I made references, in case you want to read up the original.**

* * *

><p>Actually, it was the perfect weather for Halloween. The leaves shone in rich yellows and reds, it was still pretty warm for the season, and the sunset offered a breathtaking spectacle in the sky above Todayland. The city glared one last time in all its glory, before the sun would set in an hour and the artificial lights of the city would be turned on. Although it was only 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the atmosphere was very vespertinely.<br>Wilbur was on his way home. He had been in the comic book store in order to get new, fresh supplies of comics.  
>On the other side of the street, he suddenly discovered a well-known head of dark hair... Violet. He ran across the street, calling out for her. She immediately turned around and waved happily surprised when she saw him.<br>The incident with the time machine and Cobra was just about a year ago.*(TF) Since then, the two had become very good friends.  
>Wilbur would have liked to invite her to his parents Halloween party, but he knew she had a would be hanging out with Liz tonight. He also had other plans tonight anyway.<br>Liz Beckett almost seemed to be glued to Violet, and since she didn't feel comfortable in Wilbur's presence (she didn't like him for some reason), there was a tacit agreement between them: Liz got Violet at school and at three afternoons a week, he in turn got her on the weekends and when Liz didn't have time... which was pretty often the case, fortunately.

He ran across the street and joined Violet.

"Well? Ready to party?" Violet asked cheerfully, after they had greeted each other.

"No, I have to do the baby-sitting..." replied Wilbur, trying to sound heavily disappointed, but a smile crept onto his face and revealed his true intentions. Until this moment Wilbur hadn't told anyone about what he had actually planned, because... well, because Wilbur Robinson really felt a little bit ashamed. But he couldn't keep secrets from Violet.

"Tonight? But isn't the big Halloween party at your house?" Violet asked incredulously.

"Yes ... that's right ..." Wilbur looked around as if he wanted to make sure noone was listening to this conversation, "You know, at our age Trick-Or-Treat is not really appropriate anymore, but .. ". he made a dramatic pause to build tension. "Most people are simply not aware how many hidden treasures, how many masses of free candy they are going to miss. If you convert all the Haloween sweets into their purchase price, you'll see that it's a fortune! It would be stupid not to do it ..."  
>Wilbur stopped when he realized that Violet had understood what he was about to explain.<p>

"No ... no, not really," she began slowly, incredulously.

Wilbur only lifted one of his eyebrows, grinning.

"Wilbur ... she is only 9 months old! She is far too young for trick-or-"

"No!" Wilbur interrupted, offended, as if she had said that he was too old for trick-or-treating. But when he saw her gaze, he quickly tried to change the subject.

"What are you doing? You could join us, if you want..." Wilbur suggested a little helpless, although he knew that Violet was going out with Liz. "Then it wouldn't be quite that ridiculous..." he added, muttering and pushing her gently with his elbow. Vi laughed.

"Actually, it sounds pretty tempting!"

She was serious. If you were together with Wilbur, you could tell with hundred percent certainty that it wouldn't be boring. But then she drooped and kicked against a little stone, unmotivated.

"But I'm at Lucy Duncan's party with Liz..." Violet began, "I would like her to get to know some new people ..."

"It could not hurt her!" Wilbur said aloud, and Vi cuffed him in the ribs for this remark.

"Hey, when I'm done with reaving the neighborhood, I'm at my parents' party. We make the world's best Halloween parties. Just come over later! After Lucy's little party-thing... "

"Definitely!" Vi laughed.

"Okay! See you tonight!" Wilbur said and waved goodbye.

* * *

><p>It was evening, the sunset performed a fantastic spectacle in the sky, the clouds were shining above the horizon, as if they were made of gold. The darkness was about to break in quickly, while the lights turned on throughout the city.<br>Wilbur had packed his little sister Wilma, who had only recently begun to speak the first word-like sounds, into the buggy and was ready to leave the house. Of course, the two were wearing costumes: Wilma wore a plush full-body costume with fluffy ears, so she (almost) looked like the original Gismo, the Gremlin. Wilbur, however, was dressed in a mixture of Freddy Krueger and the chainsaw murderer. He was wearing Freddy's clothing and weapons, but not the mask and the hat - that would totally ruined his hairdo. So he decided for the hockey-mask of the chainsaw murderer instead.  
>The party in the Robinons Maison had not started yet. All preparations were almost complete.<br>Once Wilbur had made sure again that Wilma's diapers were changed (of course he didn't do this himself, but left this task for Carl or Lefty), he went towards the exit with the floating baby carriage.

"Wilbur?" Suddenly asked a voice behind them. It was Cornelius, in an elaborate Dracula costume. His hair was dyed black, only on the sides were vertical white stripes, he had a red velvet cape, vampire teeth, fake blood running down his mouth, and he had pale, almost white make-up on, except for his eyes, which were outlined black.

"Where are you two going?" He asked and added promptly, "The party starts at any minute!"

Wilbur hesitated a moment, not sure what to say. Then he took off his mask and said innocently: "I teach Wilma trick-or-treating. You can not learn it soon enough!"

Cornelius then began to laugh with amusement. It was too obvious what was going on. Cornelius could not wait to tell Franny, that her son abused his little sister as an excuse for enjoying the privileges of a child a bit longer.

"Aren't you a bit too old for that?" he asked, hardly suppressing a laugh. He could not help asking, and eagerly awaited his son's answer or excuse. Wilbur hesitated for a moment.

"And that asks me a grown-up man in a Dracula costume!" he replied subtly and then left the house with his sister.

* * *

><p>The foray hadn't been so productive in years! A little sister was a lot to get used to, all the bawling and all the stinky diaper change, but it was also incredibly practical! At each door they rang, they got twice as much as usual!<p>

While they went on the way home through the deserted streets of Todayland, a thick fog slowly developed - not unusual for this time of year. Wilbur had put on a blue wool scarf around Wilma's neck, plus the matching gloves, so she wouldn't catch a cold, and he had a great time, literally riding the floating buggy by leaning on the handle and floating a while, without touching the ground with his feet. While doing this, Wilbur calculated how many houses he could theoretically scour in one night; with Wilma he got two portions at every door, so he could fill so-and-so many bags, and since his sister was still too small to eat the candy herself, he would get the entire 100%!  
>A happy smile came over his face at the thought of all the candy! For now he ignored the stomach ache and queasiness, which would follow after the consumption.<p>

Wilbur was suddenly distracted. He was startled out of his thoughts because he believed he had discovered Violet between the mist. He even wanted to call her, but on a closer look he couldn't see anything. There his eyes probably played a trick on him... Wilbur shook his head and kept on walking, pushing the buggy. But after a while he discovered another girl on the street that looked just like Violet! Wilbur hesitated - was it the same one he had seen previously...?  
>He hadn't even finished this thought, when suddenly a third 'Violet' walked right past him! She passed him without noticing him.<br>Now Wilbur doubted his sanity – was it because he had a crush on Violet, that he saw her everywhere now?

That wasn't even a secret. He had even had the courage to tell her once... Well, not her but her older self from the future, but still.*(TF ch. 45) But it was definitely not normal that he suddenly saw her everywhere he looked ...

Since these Violets didn't seem to notice him, Wilbur just shrugged his shoulders and moved on. However, he had a seriously bad feeling and decided to tell Violet that she had several doubles in the city. But no sooner had he passed the next corner, he almost bumped into the next Violet!  
>Wilbur got an unbelievable shock, but he hoped that it wasn't too obvious through the hockey mask. Something was extremely wrong here. And this time Wilbur didn't want to walk away from it. He grabbed the handle of the buggy tighter, as it could give him more safety.<p>

"Violet?" He asked, when she had almost passed him. The dark-haired girl stood still suddenly, then she turned around and came with purposeful steps towards Wilbur. Her expression was scary, almost unhuman! Wilbur was more shocked that Violet - or someone who looked very much like her - was capable to such an expression than from the fact, that she approached him with alarming speed. Even before Wilbur could respond, she grabbed him firmly at the red and black striped sweater, picked him up with an ease that no one would have expected from her skinny figure, and threw him several feet far on the road! Wilbur lay dazed for a second, until a thought hit him, that made his blood froze in his veins - the buggy! His sister sat helplessly in striking distance of this thing - whatever it was! when he struggled to his feet again, he realized that this Violet-like thing was coming straight towards him. Although the situation was extremely threatening, Wilbur was relieved, because her attention was at least distracted from the buggy. As quick as a flash Wilbur reached into his pocket and threw a handful of candy at the Violet-double's face. She ducked away and became invisible suddenly - just like Violet!  
>Wilbur took the opportunity to run to the baby buggy to get his sister - in the same moment he heard footsteps right behind him already! Courageously, he reached for the big candy bag and tossed it around - and fortunately hit the nasty Violet exactly in the face! The bag burst, candy flew around, the Violet double screamed, lost her balance and fell. Wilbur took this opportunity to run away. With his sister on his arm, he chased down the road!<p>

* * *

><p>Lucy's mother opened the door after she heard an impatient knocking. Outside the front door stood a boy with a very distinctive hairstyle, with a little girl in a Gremlin costume in his arms. However, the lady didn't notice their frightened faces (she already had one or more glasses or maybe even bottles of wine).<p>

"Hello! I am looking for -" Wilbur reeled breathlessly. He was still out of breath from running.

"Oh, aren't you the little Robinson?" interrupted Lucy's mother slightly slurred, as she recognized the boy.

"Yes, I have to -"

"Wilbur is your name, right?" she interrupted again.

"Yes! May I come in?" Wilbur asked impatiently, with more emphasis. Any reasonably sober person would have seen the fear in his eyes. But not Lucy's mother.

"Sure, sure!" she shouted loudly and did an exaggerate opening movement with her arms, "Mi casa e su casa, or whatever it calls. Aww, and this is your little sister, right? Hallooooo" she cried and reached for Wilma's hand, but the little girl immediately withdrew it. Wilbur tried to push past the corpulent lady, but suddenly she hold a tray right in front of his nose - Wilbur almost knocked it over.

"Oops! Would you like maggots in bacon?" She asked expectantly. On the tray were some indefinable looking, cocoon-like objects, which were dripping from fat.

"No, thank you -" Wilbur waved slightly in disgust and tried to push further into the interior of the house. Wilbur cleverly twisted around the woman and found himself in a crowded living room.

"You sure? These are only dates actually -" Lucy's mother called after them and stuffed one of these 'maggots in bacon' into her mouth.

"Vi!" Wilbur cried sporadically, although he couldn't see her in the crowd of people. He also had no idea how Vi was dressed. There were a huge variety of different costumes. Moreover, his voice was drowned by the music anyway.

But then he discovered her. He didn't recognize her on first sight. He only saw many people dressed up, including a Glinda and an Elphaba - when he realized that it was Liz (who widened her eyes almost shocked when she saw Wilbur) in the Glinda costume, he realized that Violet was Elphaba. Her face was painted all green and she smiled happily when she saw Wilbur.

"Hey!" she shouted over the music, and waved him over, but when she saw his haunted expression, she asked a little worried, "Are you okay?"

"Eehm ..." Wilbur began uncertainly. Should he tell in front of all these people, that he had beaten up by a Violet-double. Unsure, he looked around, then his eyes fixed Liz, who became deathly pale.

"Here!" he exclaimed suddenly, pressed Wilma into Liz' arms, grabbed Violet's hand and then pulled her out on the terrace, "Take care of her for a moment! We'll be right back!" He called back to Liz, who was looking after them, confused.  
>On the terrace were too many people, so he moved further into the garden. Everything happened so quickly that Violet had to hold her witch's hat, which had fallen down at this speed otherwise.<p>

"Wilbur, what's going on?" She asked, and she couldn't properly decide whether she should be angry or worried. Only now she saw the dirt in his face and wiped it away unabashed, "Did somebody beat you up?" she asked jokingly.

Wilbur was still completely out of breath and so he only nodded.

"By whom?" Violet asked, suddenly dangerous. If someone dared to beat this boy, then Violet would kick this someone's ass into the next state.

"By you!" said Wilbur breathlessly. Violet frowned.

"- what ...?"

"She looked just like you! She also had the same powers!" Wilbur said hastily, so fast that there wasn't missing much, until he would hyperventilate. Violet placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and was silent for a moment. Then she asked coldly:

"Where?"

Without telling Liz (which was still paying attention to Wilma) that they were leaving, the two ran to the place of the event. The sky was completely dark now, and only a few people were outside. A cold mist filled the streets and swallowed some of the light from the streetlights.

"Here is it..." said Wilbur, when they arrived at the spot where he had his little encounter with the 'evil Violet'. The buggy was tipped over and lay on the sidewalk, and the sweets were still scattered everywhere.

"Do you have any idea where she might be gone?" Violet asked, after she had looked round. The silhouettes of some passers-by could be seen on the fog, but otherwise it was an completely ordinary street, she couldn't discover anything unusual.

"I'm sorry, I was too busy saving my sister!" Wilbur snapped irritably.

"'Sorry!" Violet snapped back, "Never mind ... We need to find a trace ... "

Violet looked helplessly around.

"If you would be me, where would you go?" she joked to cheer up her grumpy friend a little. Wilbur just shrugged his shoulders, annoyed. He had the feeling that Violet didn't take him very serious.

"You're really a big help," she said with a clearly sarcastic tone. She really wanted to pity him, after all, he had been bashed up – but this wouldn't get them any further now. They had a problem to solve!

"Hey, I've been beaten up just because of you!" Wilbur complained annoyed.

"Buuhuuhuu, does the poor little baby have got hit?" Violet exclaimed sarcastically, "Do you want to complain now for the rest of your life now? Or do you want to help me?"  
>She hated it when Wilbur was in a bad mood. Normally, she then let him sulk for a few hours until he felt fine again. But that was a serious situation here. The boy really needed to pull himself together.<p>

Wilbur wanted to say something, but he remained silent and looked uncertain into the fog. Violet also turned around.  
>The silhouettes of pedestrians were moving very strangely. Instead of going in random directions, they seemed to be - no, they were slowly but surely approaching the two! Wilbur and Vi were surrounded.<p>

"Vi ...?" whispered Wilbur.

"Yes ...?"

"I think the trace has found us ..."

Violet gulped. The closer the silhouettes approached them, the clearer they became. No doubt - they were not some pedestrians. These were girls that all were similar to Vi in size and stature.

Violet was preparing for an attack of these things - but nothing happened. They simply remained where they were, these shadows in the fog. It was truly an eerie sight. Five of these shadows stood at some distance around them. The street lights colored the fog yellow, and threw confusing shadows.. In addition, the fog swallowed all sound, it was deadly quiet - almost like on a graveyard...  
>Wilbur only gulped, stiff with fear.<p>

"What do they want?" He whispered uncertainly.

"Well ..."

Violet thought for a moment. When these things didn't want to attack, they had to take the opportunity to disappear.

Suddenly she grabbed Wilbur's arm and dragged him off in one direction. They ran off, and everything looked like they would escape this strange situation, when Violet suddenly got a sharp punch in the face! Struck by the force of the blow, Violet rebounded and fell backwards onto the wet asphalt. She hit hard on the back of her head. For a second, she lay dazed on the ground, and was frustrated about her own stupidity - how could she forget? These things had her powers! Also invisibility!  
>Wilbur - who had been forced to helplessly watch what happened to Violet - had no time to help her up. After he realized what had happened, he struck a random blow in the air - and landed a perfect hit! The other Violet gasped in pain and became visible. The resemblance to Violet was shocking, so much that Wilbur, now that he saw her, barely couldn't bring himself to beat her again! She wavered, Wilbur hesitated a moment too long – then he was suddenly hit unexpectedly by something hard! Her force field threw him back so that he landed hard on the road.<br>Violet, who was still lying within the force field, gave her double a kick so that she fell to the ground. Violet immediately rushed to her evil version to keep her away from Wilbur. Wilbur, however, was glad that Violet's face was painted green, otherwise he would not have been able to keep the two fighting girls apart. Wilbur struggled on his feet and hurried to help Violet. With a specific karate chop to the neck, he knocked out the evil Violet.  
>Just as Vi got to her feet again, Wilbur discovered, how the rest of the 'Violets' appeared right behind her out of the fog.<p>

"Vi!" He shouted to warn her. Violet turned around, in this moment, the others lunged at her! Vi could knock out two of them with a blow of her force field, but another double grabbed the coat of her costume, and pulled her violently to the ground. Then the others surrounded her closely. Violet defended herself with all her strength, but each of her opponents was equal in strength and endurance. They were just too many. She couldn't take on with all of them.  
>Everything had happened within a few seconds. Wilbur tried single-handedly to save Vi. But he couldn't even come close enough to her. When he tried to lunge at the crowd, he suddenly was stopped by an unshakeable force field and bounced back. Furiously, he punched and kicked against the purple shimmering surface, but it was useless.<br>While Wilbur was trying to save her, Vi noticed that her doubles didn't try to hurt or kill her – they only put her handcuffs on. At this moment Vi noticed that one of her doubles turned away and walked with a gloomy expression right towards Wilbur.

"No!" Violet exclaimed inevitably, "Run away, Wilbur!"

Wilbur remained rooted to the spot, his gaze shifted from Vi to her double, who was approaching him. Violet knew he wouldn't give her up without a fight, but against a super, he had no chance! And this thing looked as if it had no intention to let him escape alife!

"Run away!" Violet cried again, imploring, "Go and get help!"

At that moment, the other doubles lifted her up and carried Violet to an opened street drain.  
>Wilbur just stood there, desperately he watched what was going on, without being able to do something against it. Helplessly he had to watch, how these doubles abducted Violet into the canalisation. But he couldn't leave Vi in the lurch! He was about to follow them into the sewers, as he changed his mind. No, he had to hurry to get help before it was too late!<br>Finally, Wilbur ran away - not really sure where to go. To his parents house he needed at least half an hour and even longer to Vi's Parents! But then he got another idea ... He ran back to Lucy's house. Once her mother had opened the door, he pushed past her. Right inbetween the crowd, he found a pink sugar plum fairy: Emely.

"Hello!" The little blonde shouted joyfully when she saw Wilbur.

"Where's your sister?" Wilbur cried rushed, breathlessly (again).

"Why?" Emely wondered, starting to worry.

"Is she here?" Wilbur asked impatiently. They had no time for stupid questions. Without a word Emely showed him to follow her. On the second floor was another room, where several older teenagers hung out, the music was so loud you could hardly hear your own thoughts.

"Flame!" Emely screamed with a sharp voice over the noise - or at least she tried it. Flame, who stood at the other end of the room next to a handsome boy in a zebra costume, didn't seem to notice them. She wore a tight cowboy outfit with suede hot pants and a matching vest, tight leather boots with high heels, spurs and a pistol belt hung loosely around her hips. For a moment Wilbur wondered about the fact that it probably was impossible to ride a horse with that outfit.  
>Only when Emely made a few weird hand movements, Flame was ready to come across. Wilbur wondered if Emely perhaps had used her telepathic powers to communicate with Flame. The dark blonde cowgirl left the room and stomped into the hallway.<p>

"What do you want, you little rat!" She hissed at Emely, "Do you know who that is?" she continued and pointed to the attractive zebra-boy, "This is Kevin McGrath! And he is just about to invite me on a date!" Flame said annoyed, but before Emely could say anything, Wilbur spoke.

"Violet is in danger!" he blurted out, because they had no time to discuss any longer. Vi had been kidnapped. Who knew how much time they had left to save her!

"What?" Flame asked, confused.

"She's been kidnapped! From - from – well, I'm pretty sure it were clones!"

"Oh no, certainly not!" Flame laughed and waved. "It's just one of these unfunny Halloween jokes! You want that I go out with you, then someone jumps out of the corner and screamms 'booh!', I'll be all scared, and you all laugh your asses off , because it was oh-so-funny - But not now! I have important things to care about!"

"This is no joke!" Emely dared to speak.

"This clone-things have the same super powers like Violet! They have abducted her to the sewers!" Only now, when he heard what he said, Wilbur noticed how silly the whole thing sounded. He would probably also find it difficult to believe, if he hadn't seen it himself.  
>The two girls in front of him stared at him in shock, and Wilbur believed they had now realized the seriousness of the situation, but he was wrong. Flame's eyes narrowed suddenly.<p>

"Can you please be a little more understandingly?" She asked suspiciously, and Emely backed away a few uncertain steps from him. Only now Wilbur understood. Actually he wasn't supposed to know anything about Vi's super powers. But he didn't have the time to explain the whole story to them now.

"Your special skills are needed now!" he exclaimed hurriedly, urgently. That was a huge, really stupid mistake. Wilbur should have known that Supers are always careful to protect their identities, he finally had read countless comics about the subject. Suddenly, it was getting very warm in the hallway. Flame stared at him intently. Then she suddenly grabbed him by the collar, lifted him and pushed him against the wall.  
>"Oh no! Haven't I been bashed enough for today already?" Wilbur thought annoyed.<p>

"How did you find out our secret?" Flame hissed, her eyes glowed dangerously red. But if she wanted to scare Wilbur, she failed.  
>"Who cares! We need to save Violet!" said Wilbur, while his feet dangled in the air.<p>

"Oh, I do care!" Flame replied dangerously.

"Flame!" Emely said uneasily, probably hoping to prevent worse things from happening, by soothing her sister.

"How do you think I found out, huh? Your aunt is my best friend, now guess,why I know!" Wilbur said aggressively, and wrinkled his nose. Right when he had uttered the words, Flame dropped him. But her anger wasn't just gone, on the contrary - the small hallway seemed to get even warmer.

"When I get my hands on this girl ...!" she hissed angrily.

* * *

><p>A short time later, the three, Wilbur, Flame and Emely, went together through the sewers of Todayland. Flame had turned her left hand into a torch and illuminated their way.<p>

"She should know better - but no, she just blurts it out to every random idiot that happens to come along -" Flame railed on. Since they had left Lucy's house, she didn't get tired to scold over Violet's inexcusable mistake. Wilbur said nothing. He was just glad that they were helping him now.  
>They reached a crossing.<p>

"Can you feel the direction in which they have gone?" Wilbur (deliberately ignoring Flame) asked the little suger plum fairy beside him, wo looked around anxiously in the tunnel. Then Emely pointed uncertainly at the left tunnel.

"Are you sure!" Flame asked irritable. The blonde girl shook her head intimidated.

"That's great!" Flame said sarcastically and took the left path, "Do you know what's going on now? Now that I'm gone, Melina Annington will hit on Kevin! While I'm running threw the sewers with you, just because Violet is too stupid to take care of herself! My boots are totally ruined!"

Now Wilbur could no longer hold back.

"Man! You're so unprofessional! Have you ever seen Violets forces in action? The girl doesn't look like that, but she is strong and powerful - and now imagine five or six of her!"  
>He had asked Flame and Emely for help, because he knew, even more, because he had seen himself what they were able to achieve. He had been sure that they would be able to help. But these two girls had little in common with the superheroes Medium and Inferno, who he had met in the future.*(TF 33)<p>

"If so, shouldn't we tell our parents about it?" Emely asked hesitantly.

"What should they do? And until they would arrive here it might be to late..." Flame said thoughtfully. At least she attended to the time factor properly. But then the indignation took over again, "Dad and Granpa will go crazy when they find out that you know everything now!"

"They don't have to find out ..." Wilbur said rebelliously.

"As if you could keep as a secret like his for yourself -" Flame replied mockingly.

"I've kept it for myself for more than a year -" Wilbur replied smugly. He enjoyed the sight, when Flame's jaw literally dropped. she just wanted to say something when Emely interrupted her.

"Shh!"

Slowly they approached a room, from where light fell into the hallway. When they turned cautiously around the corner, they saw that the corridor led to a metal balustrade, and below it was a large room. On three sides if this room were artificial waterfalls. The water fell into a huge waste reservoir in the center of the room. From the metal balustrade some stairs led down to the room. In some distance from the stairs, at the edge of the water reservior, Violet was chained to a tube. She seemed to be unconscious. Her hair was disheveled, the costume was torn and the green paint in her face was smudged.

"Okay!" began Flame determinedly, "I'll go down there, free her, and then we'll leave! You will -" she suddenly jerked her head backwards and slammed against the railing. Emely was giving a scream in shock, but Wilbur realized what was going on. Flame had received a blow from one of the invisible Violet clones! Wilbur grabbed Emely's hand and ran away with her. He missed the sight, how Flames hands suddenly started burning, then grabbing the invisible clone. Flame got to grab the clone's arm and burned the flesh. The clone screamed in pain.  
>Emely was shocked from this eerie noise so that she also gave a frightened scream. Wilbur suddenly realized how he was grabbed by his arm from behind - but he was prepared. As soon as he felt the touch, he spun around and landed a direct hit in the face!<br>Too bad it was Flames face.

"Oh my God! I-I-I'm sorry!" Wilbur squealed in shock, and struck a hand over his mouth. Flame would surely roast him on the spot!  
>But he was mistaken. She turned slowly to him, rubbing her aching cheek and gave him an appreciative glance.<p>

"Pretty hard blow, sweetie..." she began, not without respect, "And good reaction time! Keep going!" She added, and gave him a playful push against the arm. She was accustomed to take blows to the face, after all boxing was her hobby. Wilbur just stared at her surprised, or rather confused, because the expected tantrum was missing.

Suddenly he heard a gasp of fright from Emely. On the balustrade in front of them approached quick steps, though nothing was visible. It had to be at least two or three of these invisible clones! Emely immediately hid behind her big sister, who went into battle-ready position, awaiting the attack.

"You go down and free Violet!" Flame told Wilbur with a strict voice, without looking at him. Wilbur obeyed immediately, especially because he had no desire to fight with even more clones. He hurriedly ran down the metal stairs. Down here the noise of the three water falls was almost deafening. It was wet and slippery everywhere. Wilbur had to run around the large water reservior - he just hoped that he wouldn't encounter more of these clones on the way.  
>However, he hardly finished this thought, when two Violet-clones appeared between him and Vi. They obviously were her guards. The first one lunged at him - and again, the unmistakable resemblance to Violet was frightening!<br>She took out a powerful punch that Wilbur, that would certainly have catapulted him across the room, but Wilbur ducked away in time. The clone had too much swing and so she slipped on the wet floor, lost her balance and fell hard to the ground.  
>Wilbur had no time to enjoy this triumph; from the corner of his eye he saw that the second clone was already attacking him! When he turned around, she stood barely a 3 feet away from him – she was too close to do something in time!<br>But suddenly a purple blast appeared out of nowhere, that hurled the clone with full force against a wall, on which she remained unconsciously. No doubt, it was Violet's force field.  
>Wilbur jerked around. Violet stared at him with her big blue eyes, with an expression between triumph and confusion.<p>

"Thanks for the distraction!" she said impressed. She wouldn't have thought that Wilbur would be back so fast - she even had doubts whether he would come back in time at all. But then she felt a slight fear rising. "Please tell me you're not alone."

"No, I'm not!" Wilbur began, relieved to see her awake and in good condition, "You were awake all the time?" Wilbur asked incredulously. He sat beside her immediately and helped her to solve the handcuffs, with which she was chained to the edge of the basin.

"Sure," said Violet, like it was the most self-evident thing, "I've only played dead so these things don't bother me"

The loosening of the handcuffs was more difficult than expected, because it was not a normal rope or a chain, but an electromagnetic plasma band called EPB. It looked like a thick tube that was tightly wrapped around both hands. The inside of this tube seemed to glow - it was the plasma, which was racing with almost the lightspeed through the acrylic glas fiber tube. Between the hands was a small dark box, the lock.  
>Violet gave a sullen hum, when it became clear that they were not able to open the handcuffs so easily.<p>

"Don't worry, I'll handle this!" said Wilbur determined, full of enthusiasm, while he opened the plastic cover of the lock. He had seen it for thousand times how the hero of his favorite series and comics had opened these kind of handcuffs in no time! It couldn't be that difficult. He just had to open the cover, below it were always three coloured cables, and by cutting the red one the lock would open.  
>Under this cover, however, appeared countless incredibly tiny cables, everything was full of tiny copper wires and coils, all just as thin as a hair - and not a single red wire was between them.<p>

"Welcome to reality, Mr. Robinson!" Wilbur thought bitterly.  
>You could probably see the dwindling optimism on his face, because Violet suddenly asked:<p>

"Wilbur, are you okay?"

"Uhm ... yes, everything's okay!" Wilbur lied and then turned around to look for Flame. She and Emely just came running down the stairs, after they had defeated the clones on the upper floor. At the same moment Violet noticed that three more clones were coming right towards them. What Wilbur hadn't noticed in the thick fog on the road, was that all clones had the same tight-fitting green-black-blue coloured suit.

"You should quickly come up with something!" Vi urged. With these words, Wilbur took some of the cables and tore them bravely - the next thing he remembered was that he bounced about 8 feet away from Violet to the ground. Surprised, he struggled up. Violet stared at him, looking just as shocked as he looked like.

"Are - are you hurt?" Violet asked, shocked. Wilbur patted his body. The electric shock was strong enough hurl him away, but it probably had not hurt him. At least he felt no pain, so he shook his head. Violet's expression changed suddenly.

"Never ever do this again!" she said angrily.

Then the approaching clones came back to their mind.

"Flame! Come here!" Wilbur cried and waved the two girls, who had just arrived at the foot of the stairs. Emely looked terrified, while Flame made an rather annoyed impression. After she had assessed the situation for a second, she squatted silently next to Violet, her hand turned into a flame, and so she simply melted the lock of her handcuffs.

"Oh man, it's so cool that you came to help me! Thanks!" Violet cried with relief and gratitude when the handcuffs opened and fell on the wet ground.

Now, only three the clones remained! They had stopped and hesitated to attack the group, that was in the majority now. What it was, that made them finally attack, Wilbur didn't know yet at that moment. Like on a secret command the clones became invisible and attacked. But because of the wet soil their footprints were clearly visible. Now it was about Wilbur, Flame, and Vi to knock out the remaining clones. Wilbur gave the first one a hard karate kick, when she became visible, she gave a painful blow on Wilbur's upper arm. Then he gave her the rest, with a targeted hit in the neck – like before he really had to pull together by focussing on the thought, that this thing was not Violet, but only by a vicious clone.  
>Flame knocked out her clone in a pretty similar way. First she made the clone visible, by shooting a fireball at her, then she managed the rest with her fists.<br>However, when it was about the most spectacular defense, Violet would have achieved a perfect score. While the others fought with their clones, Vi waited patiently until the clone attacked her. Then she stopped the attack abruptly by hurling the clone with her force field against the opposite wall of the hall. The clone was lying there unconsciously, while Violet patted her hands, satisfied.

Wilbur looked around after the short fight. It was an unpleasant feeling to see five unconscious Violets on the floor.  
>Suddenly he heard a cry by Violet, so he jerked around. Flame apparently had given her a blow to the arm.<p>

"What was that for?" Violet asked in pain, rubbing her aching arm. Flame didn't respond, she only made a dismissive gesture Wilbur's direction. Violet followed the movement with her eyes until they met Wilbur's gaze. Wilbur rolled his eyes. He thougth Flame was pretty much exaggerating, only because he knew about their super powers know.

"No need to behave lika a bully!" Vi murmured, and had almost caught a blow for that again - when suddenly Emely gave a sharp yell. The others jerked around, but there was nothing to see. Emely just stood there and pressed her hands against her temples, her face contorted from pain.

Wilbur wouldn't have understood what was going on when he hadn't discovered a person on the upper balustrade.

"Up there!" he exclaimed suddenly, pointing in the direction. Emely was apparently defending against psy-attack. Emely, beeing an inexperienced medium, would probably no longer bear it, when Flame hadn't responded. She instantly transformed into her plasma shape and whizzed as a giant fireball towards the stranger. When he saw her coming, he turned and disappeared into one of the many tunnels.  
>Emely, however, collapsed unconsciously.<p>

"M!" cried Vi, and she and Wilbur ran to the unconscious girl. Fortunately Emely seemed to be all right, she quickly came around again, while Wilbur and Vi helped her up. However, she remained pale and had a slightly bewildered expression.

"Are you okay?" Violet asked motherly. Emely only shook her head wordlessly. She looked like she was going to cry any minute. She sniffed and rubbed her temples.

"Flame?" Violet cried worried. They hadn't heard anything from above - no sounds of battle, no cries ...

"Uuh ... yes?" came the hesitant reply. Vi gave a sigh of relief, because Flame seemed to be okay.

"How is M?" added Flame.

"Good!" cried Violet to the top, "Come on! We're leaving ... "

"Yeah... wait..." Flame replied hesitantly, "M!" she suddenly yelled rushed.

"What?" Violet shouted angrily because she could not imagine what was going on.

"Send M up here!"

But Emely was not able at all to do anything. She looked pitifully sad and scared. Violet groaned annoyed.

"You go up and ask what she wants!" she said emphatically to Wilbur, who also didn't have the desire to deal with Flame. The lady didn't think very well of him. But at this moment Emely couldn't hold back the tears. She began to sob and Vi gave her a hug to sooth her. Meanwhile, Vi showed Wilbur with an impatient nod to finally get Flame, so that they could leave this place. Grumpily Wilbur climbed up the stairs to the upper floor. He followed the corridor, where Flame had disappeared to follow stranger, but except for a smell of burning rubber there was nothing.

"Flame?" he called - the response came faster than he had hoped. Next to him - in a side passage - he suddenly heard a deafening sharp cry that hurt his ears! When he turned around, he was almost hit by a fire storm, accompanied by some hysterically shouted curses. Wilbur ran back out onto the balustrade. He had not had the opportunity to see Flame (what she would never believe him later, and it should take several weeks until they could look at each other again, without that Flame had the desire to kill him), but now he knew after all, where she was staying and why she wasn't coming out.

"What's going on up there?" Violet asked impatiently. Emely seemed to have calmed down somewhat in the meantime. Wilbur didn't answer. He silently walked down the stairs and then asked Violet for the coat of her costume.

"Why?" Violet asked, confused.

"Just give it to me..." Wilbur said with emphasis, a really uncommen undertone in his voice and a peculiar purple colour on his face - because of the fire? Violet gave him the jacket puzzled, and he silently went back upstairs. Just before he reached the corridor where Flame was hiding, he covered his eyes with his hand, turned his head away and reached with the other arm into the hallway, holding Violet's jacket, prepared that his arm would be roasted at every moment in a furious fire storm. A moment later he felt how someone ripped the mantle from his hand.

"Now, go away!" hissed a voice that sounded as if it was about to break out into tears immediately. "And thank you..." Flame added with a choked up sob.  
>Wilbur came back on the balustrade with a very unpleasant feeling. Vi and Emely also just arrived up here. When they saw him, they gave him a confused look. But Wilbur had no desire to explain to them what was going on. He just stuck his hands in the pockets bashfully and looked at the floor. A moment later Flame finally came out of her hiding. Emely and Vi widened their eyes puzzled, while Wilbur discreetly averted his gaze and looked elsewhere, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.<p>

During Flames little show her cowboy costume had burned completely. Since she was not accustomed to use her powers, she had simply forgotten about this fact. So she had stopped to follow the stranger - or should she fight him naked? She was now barefoot and wore nothing but Violet's black Elphaba-coat. Her head was bright red, she looked tearful and the air around her was shimmering with heat.

"Oh ..." Vi exclaimed inevitably, and now probably regretted that she had sent up the only boy.

"We leave now!" Flame hissed in a low voice, and then went ahead.

* * *

><p>The mood on the trip home in Flames small floating car was terrible. No one dared to say a single word. Emely sat in the passenger seat, beside her sister, her eyes closed. She still had a terrible headache from the defense against the psycho-attack of the unknown. Flame on the other hand, was in an incredibly bad mood. Although it was bitterly cold outside now, all the windows of the little green car were opened, and yet it felt like in an oven!<p>

"Next time we should bring some spare clothes!" Violet joked suddenly to lighten up the mood when they stopped at a floating red light. Wilbur would have liked to prevent her from saying a word, but it was too late. The fragile atmosphere in the car tipped over, Flame freaked out - and the temperature seemed to rise even more.

"Next time?" She shouted angrily and turned to Vi and Wilbur in the back seat, who jerked in shock. Her eyes flashed in a bright orange and her breath was pure heat. "There will be no next time! And this time never happened too!" she screamed, then she turned around and tried to make a normal face, which she feiled miserably. She looked more as if she had finally lost her mind now.

"We'll just pretend as if nothing had happened, and if someone asks, we say 'we have nothing to do with it, we know nothing, the whole evening was perfectly normal'..." she said with a silent, melodic voice, but she paused when she loosened the grip from the steering wheel. She had melted the plastic of the steering wheel, and now long plastic strands where glued to her hands. That was the last straw for the overflow. Flame hardly managed to suppress the tears, that vaporized instantly on her hot cheeks.  
>Wilbur wouldn't have believed it, but the mood in the car got even more uncomfortable. The oppressive silence was almost unbearable.<br>When Flame landed the car with squealing tires to let out Violet, Wilbur took the opportunity to get out with her. As soon as the doors were closed, Flame hit the gas, and with smoking tires the little green car lifted off and disappeared into the darkness of night.

"How are you?" Wilbur asked, when the car had disappeared into the mist.

"Pretty okay... How's your arm?" Violet changed the subject, and pointed to his left upper arm, that Wilbur was holding with his right hand.

"Oh, it's only a bruise, no big deal," Wilbur appeased her, although his arm hurt like hell, but he dissembled, of course. Violet also wanted something to dissemble. She looked away and took a deep breath. Her eyes were tearing up already, she didn't know exactly why she felt like crying, but she struggled to hold back the tears.

Wilbur noticed it nevertheless. He gently laid a hand on her shoulder.  
>Violet turned around and smiled at him.<p>

"It's okay, I'm fine," she said, but she couldn't avoid that one big tear ran down her cheek.

"Just a moment" she said hastily, wiping away the tear.  
>Wilbur couldn't help but smile when he saw that. She really wasn't very good at being too tough. If his arm wouldn't have hurt so much, he would have embraced her. But now a reassuring pat on the back had to do it. Violet calmed down quickly. Silently, the two went for a while, until something occurred to Violet and her expression became worried again.<p>

"Oh no ..."

"What?"

"I hope Liz isn't mad at me because I've just left her alone at the party..." Violet said uneasily. Liz was an extremely sensitive girl and though she would never get angry, she would punish Violet for such a behavior on a different way, like ignoring her for several days.

Wilbur, however, was reassured that Vi was already able to worry about other things already.

"You could explain everything to her..." he said casually. But actually it was a dirty trick to find out how much Violet trusted her other best friend, and whether he was her better best friend. Did she share her biggest secrets with Liz too or just with him?

To be honest, Wilbur was terriblly jealous at the blonde girl, so it would be just all right with him when the two fell out. But of course he would never admit that.

"Pfff ... she has inferiority complexes enough already," Violet began, "If she finds out that I'm a superhero, then she'll finally go crazy!"

"This is a really cute costume. Good idea." Wilbur said to distract from his sneaky maneuver.

"Thank you ..." Violet laughed, "And what are you, if I may ask?"

"You may! I proudly present: Freddy Kruger meets the chainsaw killer - wait, where's my mask?" Wilbur said confused, noticing only now that it was missing. He must have lost it somewhere.

"My hat is gone too..." Vi giggled. Somehow it amused her, how unimportant things became, when life was it stake. She had looked for weeks for this certain hat, and she had been so happy when she had found it, but now she didn't really care that she lost it.

Suddenly Wilbur's blood ran cold as ice when remembered something.

"My sister -" he began with a dry voice. Also Violet's eyes widened in horror. Then they ran together through the cold October night back to Lucy's house, hoping that Liz was still there.

There were hardly any guests left, the music was turned off, and Liz was sitting alone on a staircase at the street and waited with a sullen face that she was picked up by her robot chauffeur. On her lap sat a small brown and white furball with fluffy ears. The furball squealed when it saw Wilbur.

"Wilma!" he cried with relief and took the little girl from Liz' arms. He didn't believe that Liz would not take good care of her. He had only feared that she would bring Wilma home to his parents. If his his parents found out that he had simply left Wilma with a stranger, he would get the trouble of his life.

"Sorry that it took so long!" Violet apologized hastily.

"Well..." Liz began. Actually she wanted to say 'No problem', as usual, after all she wasn't the kind of girl who complained about anything, but leaving her with a baby for such a long time without telling her what was going on, was indeed a problem. She almost was about to call the police. Not to mention that it totally ruined the party for her.

"Where have you been...?" Liz asked, with a slightly suspicious tone. Violet looked a little helplessly to Wilbur, who cradled his sister on his arm.

"The buggy is gone!" Wilbur blurted out, "I left it somewhere, so we were looking for it... But we couldn't find it. Someone must have taken it ... My parents will freak out!" he added hastily, to make the situation more reliable.

"Oh dear," Liz said exhausted. Obviosly she believed the lie. Thereupon Violet gave him a grateful glance. A few moments later a black sedan car arrived and stopped right beside them.

"If you want we can take you home" Liz said, and our two heroes were grateful for the offer. When they were about to get in, Liz came close to Vi.

"How can someone lose a baby-buggy?" she whispered skeptically.

"Well, uhm, you know..." Vi stammered, looking for an excuse, "That's Wilbur." she finally said with a shrug.

* * *

><p>Finally back home, Wilbur first took Wilma to bed. Liz had been so kind to drive him and Violet back home, and during the trip his little sister started to cry from exhaustion and didn't want to calm down again. The party was in full swing when he arrived home, many people were in the house so he could sneak in unremarkably. After Wilma had finally fallen asleep, Wilbur went to the bathroom to take a look at the violent contusion on his upper arm. He went to one of the bathrooms in the rear part of the house, because there were fewer people, and especially to prevent to meet his mother.<br>The bruise was already becoming deep blue.

"Well, so I probably won't be able to wear T-shirts for a while..." Wilbur thought to himself. His mother seemed to have antennas for when he was lying. And since he couldn't tell her the truth, he just had to avoid that she ever found out. But luck was not on Wilbur's side today. As soon as he opened the door to the hallway again - he had not rolled down the sleeve of his Freddy-Krueger-sweater completely – when he suddenly stood infront of Franny.

"Oh my, what did you do?" She asked anxiously, and came closer to inspect the bruise.

"Oh, uhm... I-I've resented... I didn't think it would look so bad..." Wilbur said casually, as if it would be nothing of importance.

"Resented on what?" Franny asked in disbelief - she couldn't imagine what object in the house could cause such an injury.

"On ... the buggy ... "

That was an obvious and also really lame lie, and Wilbur didn't even bother to hide it - he grinned and winked at his mother.

"Oh ..." sighed Franny. Her son obviously didn't want to talk about it , "If I'll find out that you've been involved into a fight ..." she said menacingly, wagging her finger at him.

"There was no fight," interrupted Wilbur, "And if there was one, I was so smart not to let them hit my face ..." he added, smart-alecky.

Franny sighed again and rolled her eyes.

When Wilbur was finally in his room, he grabbed the phone and dialed Violet's number, which he already knew by heart.

It rang several times before Violet finally answered the phone. Everything she said was a simple "Hi" but Wilbur still heard perfectly well that she sounded tearful.

"Everything okay?" He asked immediately, concerned. Violet needed a moment to find an answer, then she burst out.

"Of course not! Out there is some maniac who has it in for me! What do you think how I feel ?... Oh man ..." she sobbed. There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

"Don't you think this face looked familiar somehow?" Violet said finally, and though she tried to dissemble, Wilbur heard the fear in her voice.  
>Wilbur had no idea what to say. Only then the whole situation became clear to him. The stranger, whom they had seen on the balustrade, had a frightening resemblance with Cobra ... or even more with his clone, which Wilbur and Vi had only seen briefly, back when Cobra had captured and tortured them to find out the whereabouts of the time machine.*(TF 25) Was Alpha still out there? This time they had been lucky, but what if it wouldn't turn out so fortunate next time? Wilbur now felt increasingly uncomfortable in his skin.<p>

"No," he lied, as if he could simply ignore the truth. "... just some idiot... "

"That doesn't make it better..." he heard Violet sobbing at the other end. Wilbur tensed.

"Now calm down again, you're just in shock!" he said strictly, yet swallowing. He wasn't sure whether it sounded to harsh and he was worried that it would only make it worse, but as it turned out it actually worked.

"You're right ..." Violet sighed, while she calmed down.

"I can see the imprints of knuckles on my arm." He changed the subject clumsily.

"Oh, man .."

"If my mom asks again, I'll say it was you ..." said Wilbur, trying to sound lighthearted.

"Well, it was me... somehow," said Violet, and it sounded just as if she was smiling. Wilbur pressed with a finger directly on the bruise and twitched in pain.

"... Ouch! That wouldn't have happened if we had some kind of protective suits" Wilbur said in thought, speaking more to himself than to Violet.  
>Now Violet finally started laughing. The idea of Wilbur wearing a superhero suit was really ridiculous somehow.<p>

"Suits? What for?" She asked, laughing.

"Well, that was certainly not the last time that we'll get problems of this kind..." said Wilbur and let himself fall backwards onto his bed. Only when he stared at the ceiling, this banal idea formed to a splendid idea.  
>Violet seemed to have similar thoughts. She was silent for a while, then she murmured pensively:<p>

"Maybe you're right ..."

THE END

(to be continued...?)


End file.
